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World War II veteran guided torpedoes on 'probably one of the earliest computers'

By Bev Reeves For the Reporter-Herald

Posted:
07/24/2011 11:43:47 PM MDT

Grant Hall poses with his discharge papers from his military service in the US Navy. All his other documents, medals and memorabilia were stolen years ago. (Photo by Bev Reeves)

Grant Hall married his childhood sweetheart, Betty, in October 1941, two months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; a few short months later, he was drafted for military duty.

He was 18 years old and chose to serve in the U.S. Navy. He took his basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center and continued there for fire control school.

"That had nothing to do with a fire. It was controlling guns from remote stations," he said recently. He stayed at the training center to complete the advanced fire control school, each class lasting six weeks.

Mare Island -- in San Pablo Bay, the northern extension of San Francisco Bay -- was his next move, where he was assigned to the cruiser Salt Lake City.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

In this occasional series, the Reporter-Herald shares the stories of Loveland-area veterans of World War II.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Do you know a World War II veteran who should be included in this series?

Send an email to news@reporter-herald.com or a note to Reporter-Herald, 201 E. Fifth St. Loveland, CO 80537.

"For some reason, they made me head of the torpedo shop," Hall said. "This is where the torpedoes were checked out and any repairs made. We had to make sure the explosives mechanism in the head of the torpedo was working."

He explained, "This mechanism is what explodes the torpedoes. As it runs through the water, a water wheel turns and arms the explosive mechanism. As the torpedo hits the target, that jars the mechanism, which hits the exploder cap and explodes the warhead."

The unit also loaded the torpedoes on the ships. "I would go down alone and unload the exploders -- and always hoped they weren't armed yet," he said.

With this experience and knowledge, Hall decided to go into submarine duty and went to submarine school in New London, Conn. Upon completion of this training, he was assigned to the USS Guard Fish #272, where he served until the end of the war.

The 65 men on the sub hunted enemy ships in the Atlantic Ocean. "It wasn't hard to find a target. We would just go to the shipping lanes, and the targets were there," he said.

He said he did not know how many enemy ships he hit. "I don't want to know, and I don't want to think about it," Hall said.

The submarine stayed down all day and surfaced for four hours at night, but only the captain or the officer of the day went above. A "mother ship" regularly brought supplies to the sub's crew.

Being confined in such close quarters for long periods was hard. "You had a lot of good buddies, and we took care of each other," he said.

Hall's responsibility was manning a computer that contained vital information -- the depth of his ship, the depth of the target, the temperature of the water and the direction both ships were going -- and then firing one of the 21 32-caliber torpedoes.

"It was probably one of the earliest computers, and it was big: 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet high," he said.

Hall was discharged in September 1946. "You needed so many points to be discharged, and if they needed you, they kept you," he said.

Hall was born in 1924 in Fort Dodge, Kan., but his family moved to Washington Park, Ill., near East St. Louis, when he was about 6. That's where he met Betty in the first grade. "I carried her books home from school," he recalled.

In civilian life, Hall had various jobs until he settled into construction work, eventually in Chicago, where he was one of the superintendents working on O'Hare Airport, and then Santa Fe, N.M., where he built one of his most famous structures -- the Santa Fe Opera House.

After retirement, he and Betty moved to Loveland. They had celebrated 65 years of marriage before she died six years ago.

Today, Hall proudly lives in one of Loveland's Habitat for Humanity homes and volunteers at the Habitat store. A son, David, lives nearby and comes almost every morning to have coffee with his dad. Another son, Kent, calls daily from his home in Gilbert, Ariz.

"I've had a good life and have been lucky to have had good jobs," Hall said.

SHARE YOUR STORY: Do you know a World War II veteran who should be included in this series? Send an email to news@reporter-herald.com or a note to Reporter-Herald; 201 E. Fifth St.; Loveland, CO 80537.

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